The word ‘obsessive’ gets used commonly. This can mean different things to different people. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a type of anxiety disorder. In this condition, the person suffers from obsessions and/or compulsions that affects their everyday life, like going to school on time, finishing homework or being out with friends.

What are the symptoms?

An obsession is a thought, image or urge that keeps coming into your mind even though you may not want it to.

An obsession can be annoying, unpleasant or distressing and you may want it to go away.

An example of an obsession is the thought that your hands are dirty even though they are not. Different people have different obsessions.

Here are some examples:

fears about dirt and spreading disease

worrying about harm happening to you or someone else

fearing that something ‘bad’ may happen

worrying about things being tidy

worrying about having an illness.

Having an obsession often leads to anxiety or feeling uncomfortable and you may then have the urge to ‘put it right’. This is where compulsions come in.

Compulsions are things you feel you need to do usually to control your ‘obsessions’, even though you may not want to. You might even try to stop doing them, but this might not be possible.

Often, a compulsion means doing something again and again, as a ‘ritual’. By doing the compulsion you feel you can prevent or reduce your anxiety about what you fear may happen if you don’t do it. For example, turning the light on and off 20 times because you worry something bad may happen if you don’t.

Different people have different compulsions. Some examples include:

washing

checking

thinking certain thoughts

touching

ordering/arranging things or lining things up

counting.

Individuals who have these problems often try to avoid any situation that might set off obsessive thoughts (e.g. not using hands to open doors).

When obsessions and compulsions take up a lot of your time, interfere with your life and cause you distress, it becomes obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

There are psychological treatments and medications available to treat OCD.

One of the helpful psychological or talking treatments for OCD is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) that includes exposure and response prevention (ERP).

CBT is a psychological approach that is effective in treating young people with OCD (see our factsheet on OCD).

In OCD people often think that by avoiding a certain situation or doing the ritual/compulsion helps to keep the worry (obsession) away or come true. However, this does not help the worry to go away.

In the treatment for OCD, the therapist would help you to understand this reality and also teach you ways to face the worry rather than running away from it. Eventually this helps to get rid of your obsessions and the compulsions.

In ERP the therapist helps you to facing the things that you fear and that you have been avoiding. They then help you to stop responding in your usual way (like not letting you wash hands when you worry it is dirty).

To help you fight OCD, you will be taught a wide range of skills to manage the anxiety that OCD creates. This helps you to learn strategies to control the OCD rather than it controlling you.

Sometimes therapist may suggest someone in your family to be involved during the therapy.

When OCD is severe or you struggle to do the psychological treatment, you may need medication. This is usually given to help along with you trying the CBT. Medication can help you get the most out of the psychological treatment.

It is important to seek help early and remember that having OCD does not mean you are ‘mad’ and ‘losing control’.

If you are worried about yourself, you should talk to someone you trust such as your parents or carers, or a teacher. A lot of adults with OCD never got any help for their problems when younger, and now wish they had.

Your GP or school nurse can give you advice and help you get specialist help from the child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS). They will talk with you in order to understand the difficulties you are experiencing.

It can be hard or embarrassing to discuss the details of their obsessions or compulsions. But giving as much detail as possible will help the therapist or psychiatrist to give you the right treatment.

If your life has become severely affected by OCD, you may also need help from other professionals for example, teachers to help you get back to ordinary life at school or college.

"It started without me really noticing it. I got anxious about someone in my family dying – so I began to tap three times, when I got worried, for good luck and that would calm me down. Then I had to do it before I could go to sleep at night –not once but 3 x 3.

When I watched the programme on TV about those germs in hospital it began to get worse. I couldn’t tell my Mum or Dad about it because it sounded so silly.

I had to wash my hands all the time because I thought I would pass on an infection and someone would die. It was mainly at home, but then I began to worry that I would catch something at school.

I made my Mum wash my school uniform every day. She tried to say no, but I would get so worked up that she would give in. It came to a head when I couldn’t get to school on time because I was spending hours in the bathroom in the morning.

I had to wash my hair three times as well as going through washing in a set order. If I was interrupted because someone needed the bathroom, I had to start again.

Mum got me some help. I didn’t want to be seen as some psycho person, but Dr Roberts was really nice and understood why I was so worked up about everything. That was when I was 14. Now I am 18. It was hard work doing the therapy.

It is called CBT. You have to try and work out why you are so anxious and try and control it. Now I am at College and doing a course that I like. I still do some counting, but I can keep it under control."

OCD Youth - A website written by and for young people with OCD, giving information on the disorder and its treatments.

OCD UK - OCD-UK is the charity dedicated to improving the mental health and well-being of almost one million people in the UK whose lives are affected by Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

YoungMinds have also developed HeadMeds which gives young people in England general information
about medication. HeadMeds does not give you medical advice. Please talk to your Doctor or anyone else who is supporting you about your own situation because everyone is different.